museumofloot.bsky.social
Museum of Looted Antiquities is a virtual gallery that collects, displays and studies looted antiquities that have been repatriated since 1950 – and the trafficking networks behind them.
MuseumOfLoot.org
836 posts
1,019 followers
911 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter
comment in response to
post
From Medici, all three antiquities passed to Robert Hecht, then to Robin Symes, who sold them to Maurice Tempelsman in 1985. Tempelsman sold the lekanis to the Getty for USD $2.2m that year.
The Getty returned the lekanis in 2007 only after Italian authorities shared Medici's looting images of it.
comment in response to
post
In private correspondence from 1985, Getty antiquities curator Arthur Houghton wrote that the Italian antiquities trafficker Giacomo Medici had confirmed he had purchased all three objects from looters in 1975 or 1976. The lekanis had been found in a tomb near Taranto with a statue of Apollo.
comment in response to
post
Kaku imported the Buddhapada to New York for sale at Asia Week 2016.
As part of a sweeping investigation of the Asia Week sales, Kaku was arrested, pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property, and paid a $5,000 fine.
comment in response to
post
(2/4) Japanese antiquities dealer Tatsuzo Kaku allegedly purchased the sculpture from smugglers in Pakistan.
The sculpture changed hands between British and Japanese private collectors at least three times before returning to Kaku's Tokyo gallery, Taiyo Ltd.
mola.omeka.net/items/show/1...
comment in response to
post
@sauterne.bsky.social informs us that this investigation is on-going and that the idol in question was not registered as stolen, so TEFAF was unlikely to ID it. She has asked that the TOI article be corrected.
comment in response to
post
Lisa has been teaching this for some time and I believe she'll continue as IFAR winds down this year. I'm sure she'd be happy to provide details.
comment in response to
post
During the investigation, authorities alleged the rhyton was part of Iran's well-known "Western Cave treasure", which was looted in 1989. It was returned to Iran in 2013.
An expert at the British Museum later suggested that the object might be a modern forgery.
comment in response to
post
Aboutaam sold the rhyton in 2002 to Paula Cusi, a trustee of the Met, for USD $950,000. He was arrested for his role in the case and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for falsifying documents.
comment in response to
post
You can find many of the objects looted from Koh Ker at the Museum of Looted Antiquities here: mola.omeka.net/items/browse...
comment in response to
post
“the British Museum has acknowledged receipt of the resolution and confirmed, in response to a Freedom of Information request, that it does not hold clear legal title to the Pusilha objects.”
comment in response to
post
The notorious trafficker Douglas Latched played a central role in the looting of the site, according to recent research:
bsky.app/profile/chas...
comment in response to
post
The returns are three Bodhisattva figures and one Buddha statue, all originating from the “Prakhon Chai hoard” found in what is now Chalerm Phra Kiat district in Buriram.
They were smuggled out of Thailand in 1964 and subsequently became part of private and museum collections internationally.
comment in response to
post
(2/2) It entered the collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art in 1982 after its head and body were sold separately in Bangkok. This case how investigative archaeology can reveal new facts about objects in question.
comment in response to
post
(3/3) The stele was acquired by the private Lahiri Collection in 1989, and consigned to Oliver Forge at the London-based gallery Brandon Lynch Ltd between 2006 and 2007.
The sculpture did not sell and was returned to the Lahiris, who offered it at Christie's in March 2016, where it was seized.
comment in response to
post
(2/3) Both items are tied to the activities of an indicted Indian antiquities trafficker known as "Shantoo".
In this case, a photograph sent to Kapoor turned out to be the 'smoking gun', showing the Stele in situ.
comment in response to
post
The Cleveland museum received it in 1991 as a 75th- anniversary donation from collector Lawrence A. Fleischman given in honor of Arielle P. Kozloff, then the museum’s curator of ancient art and a specialist in Egyptian art
www.cleveland.com/entertainmen...
comment in response to
post
The statue was at Libya’s Ptolemais Museum until WW2, when it was looted from the rubble after the British bombed the museum
It was sold to collectors in Lucerne in 1960 and ended up in the home of Lawrence and Barbara Fleishman, who donated it to CMA in 1991
www.clevescene.com/news/clevela...
comment in response to
post
(3/3) The Revanta was previously listed at Spink&Sons, London, in a 1999 sale for USD$200-300k.
Robber photos sent to Kapoor by "Shantoo" show it had been recently looted, and contained an 'orphaned' fragment that was likely withheld for later sale at a high price.
comment in response to
post
(2/3) Both items were linked to Subhash Kapoor and one of his key suppliers, "Shantoo", during Homeland Security Investigations's probe, which included warehouse searches in 2012.
See: mola.omeka.net/items/show/2...
comment in response to
post
(3/3) The African art dealer Charles Davis had a history of obtaining culturally important items that he alleged communities "wanted to sell". But when the MFA inquired, the paperwork documenting these sales, including for the Memorial Screen, were identified as fabricated by Nigerian authorities.
comment in response to
post
(2/3) It turns out that they came to the museum as part of a large collection amassed by William and Bertha Teel, who acquired this memorial screen from New Orleans's Davis Gallery in 1990.
mola.omeka.net/items/show/998